Once again, longtime supporter and Series sponsor, 1175 Sports Park and Eatery hosted the IRA Lightning Sprint Banquet, marking the completion of year 35 for the club. The evening was emceed by series competitor Tim Brannam and featured awards and door prizes from several series sponsors and supporters like Hoosier Racing Tire, Hepfner Racing Products, CSI Shocks, Hyper Racing, Allstar Performance, Bell Helmets, Wilwood Engineering, Triple X Race Components, Slade Shocks, Force 1 Performance Parts, and Brannam Motorsports.
This year, Brian Strane Jr. was finally able to seal the deal and be crowned series champion! If not for gremlins haunting him at the end of last year, this surely would have been back to back championships for the 16 year old. Brian would claim 6 features in 14 starts and make it 13 wins out of the last 26 races with a 50% win percentage over the last 2 seasons.
13 year old Colin Sivia would earn the Rookie of the year honors with an up and down season, but would find speed towards the end as he led laps and battled for a win at the Wilmot Raceway Fall Classic bringing home his best finish of 2nd.
4 additional Special Awards were handed out as voted on by the ILS board as follows:
2025 ILS Spirit Award – Given to the individual(s) who consistently demonstrates enthusiasm at ILS events and racing in general. They show up night after night to every ILS event, but seldom finish in the top spot: RON BRANNAM
2025 ILS Above and Beyond Award – Given to anyone participating at an ILS sponsored event that takes on difficult and/or thankless tasks for the benefit of the club: BRANNAM MOTORSPORTS TEAM AND FAMILY
2025 ILS Hard Charger Award – Given to the driver who consistently betters their position on the track and passes the most cars throughout the season: BRIAN STRANE JR. (17 heat passes and 41 feature passes)
2025 ILS Most Improved Driver – given to the driver who has demonstrated a marked improvement in driving ability and/or finishing position from previous years: TUCKER RICHARDS (improved in practically every tracked performance category)
2 new inductees were then added to the ILS Hall of Fame - Class of 2025: Scott Sippel and Mark Heinert
Scott T. Sippel:
Scott is 60 years on and a Generator Assembler at Rehlko (Formally Kohler Co.) for the past 44 years
Married to Tina and has two children: Hannah and Travis
Over the course of his racing career from 1992 – 2005, he has amassed 74 feature wins
Including 4 Wisconsin Mini-Sprint Association (WIMSA) Championships in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2000
As well as 4 track championships with 2 at Wilmot Speedway in 1993 and 1996, and 2 at Calumet County (Chilton) in 1999 and 2000
Then closed up his career with a 6th place in Plymouth Dirt Track 360 Sprint points in 2005
Mark Heinert:
Grew up next to midget/sprint car fabricator and owner Gene Willman (Son of Indy 500 driver Tony Willman) and spent summers watching and hanging out in Gene's garage while he helped various drivers through the years including Dale Petersen, Chad Stouthamer's uncle.
Spent several Sundays out at the kart track in Dousman watching the different classes until getting a kart of his own in the late 90’s
Ran Sr. Sportsman class for 4 years with first wins and championship in 2001
Moved to Yamaha Lite class for 3 years and then Shifter class for next 6 years starting in 2005 and earning the 2010 championship with 10 feature wins
Met the Brannam family at the Badger banquet that year and the rest is history – buying Jessica’s old car and making his debut with the Wisconsin Illinois Mini Sprints (WIMS) in 2011 as part of a rookie class that saw a staggering 11 rookies, Mark would finish 7th in points and 2nd in the rookie chase.
In 2012, Mark would claim his first win that will most likely go down as the craziest finish ever as he only led the last couple feet of the last lap of the feature race at Wilmot Raceway on June 9th. Taking the checkered on his side as he flipped down the front straightaway after contact with previous leader Jimmy Scanlon, who also flipped across the line. Search Youtube “2012 Wilmot flippin for a win” for the video
Mark would maintain nearly perfect attendance from 2011 through 2025 picking up his first 3 Wilmot track championships in 2015, 2017, and 2018
Paired with Larry Neau’s Dream Chaser Racing Team in 2022 and 2023, Mark would win 11 out of 24 features and grab his 1st IRA Lightning Sprint series championship and his 4th Wilmot track championship in 2023
In 2024 back in his own equipment, he would again claim both series and track championships joining the short list of competitors who have multiple series titles.
Currently, Mark has 34 feature wins in 193 starts to go with his 2 series championships and 5 Wilmot championships.
Congratulations to Scott and Mark!
The night then continued with the point fund checks and trophies for the top 5. This year, 11 drivers met the participation requirements. Those 11 are as follows:
11th 17 - Jordan Funderburk 3 top 5’s and 9 top 10’s in 11 starts
10th 11S - Colin Sivia -r 1 top 5 and 7 top 10’s in 13 starts
9th 74M - Max Brannam 1 top 5 and 10 top 10’s in 14 starts
8th 01 - Ron Brannam 1 top 5 and 10 top 10’s in 14 starts
7th 74 - Tim Brannam 3 top 5’s and 10 top 10’s in 14 starts
6th 55H - Mark Heinert 2 wins, 5 top 5’s, & 12 top 10’s in 13 starts
5th 63 - Jacob Irwin 2 wins, 5 top 5’s, & 12 top 10’s in 13 starts
4th 13 - Tucker Richards 1 win, 9 top 5’s, & 12 top 10’s in 14 starts
3rd 18 - Nick Petska 1 win, 8 top 5’s, & 12 top 10’s in 14 starts
2nd 5S - Chad Stouthamer 1 win, 14 top 5’s, & 14 top 10’s in 14 starts
1st 22S - Brian Strane Jr 6 wins, 13 top 5’s, & 13 top 10’s in 14 starts
A tentative schedule was shared at the banquet and will be posted online soon. Thanks to all that made a great 2025 and we look forward to year 36 in 2026.
See you all soon!